The Premier League: Modern Times

in assessing what has been the most successful season to date for the baggies since their initial return to the top-flight a decade ago, i find it's time to face up to the facts of life in the most popular football competition in the world. despite finishing 8th in the table - and laying claim to being the best of the second grade sides in the almighty, bloody PREMIER LEAGUE - it was actually a very uneven season for the baggies, at least in terms of overall results if not actual footballing performances.

west brom started the season as the one of the league's form teams and were on the verge of going top of the table when a poor performance away to swansea signalled the beginning of a slump from which they never quite recovered. however, similar scenarios were played out at norwich, fulham, west ham and swansea, so the baggies kept pace with their immediate competition and their run of excellent results during the first half of the season carried them through to find success as the "best of the rest".


in actual fact, for a club like west brom to have distinguished themselves as such, is a more significant achievement than it is for manchester united to have won the league, and there is one big difference between these two sides that can't be overlooked. as one of the world's most popular and richest clubs, united can go with whatever they did this year, take stock of their resources and look to improve on it for next season. the albion, however, are left with a much more challenging set of problems and whatever they were able to achieve this season may end up having very little bearing on what they'll be able to achieve next season.

only the top five or six clubs in the PREMIER LEAGUE can look forward to the coming season with some degree of expectation. the rest of the league is left having to deal with varying levels of reorganization and often have to scramble to put together a competitive side ahead of each and every campaign. with chairmen and boards that are made up of businessmen who do not come from a football background, this is often a recipe for disaster.

it is possible - as with QPR this last season - to spend a great deal of money on expensive players who have experienced winning trophies both domestically and in europe. but this is no guarantee of success - the whole set-up often being no more than a high-priced gamble. you need look only as far as wolves - who had been both league champions and several time domestic cup winners in the old FIRST DIVISION - to see what damage the PREMIER LEAGUE can do to a football club.


also, as we saw with newcastle united this year, a good season is no guarantee that you will be left with adequate resources to build on for the next. the toon went from last year's excellent 5th place finish - and qualification for the UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - to a side that struggled to get results and only just managed to stay ahead of being involved in a scrap at the bottom of the table this year, finishing the season in 16th and only 5 points ahead of relegation.

the baggies had the good fortune of having had what has to have been the league's best loan signing, in the likes of romelu lukaku. with 17 goals in the league, the overall performance of the chelsea teenager was a major component in the baggies' success this year. when it comes time to replacing his attacking input west brom are left with no small challenge.

as a supporter who lives overseas and does not support manchester united, chelsea, arsenal, liverpool or manchester city, i am a member of a peculiarly esoteric fraternity. there is almost nothing in the way that the PREMIER LEAGUE is promoted here in north america that takes into account that someone like myself, who doesn't follow one of the top 4 or 5 sides, might even exist.

there are, of course, fringe elements that support big sides like aston villa, newcastle, everton and tottenham, but even these affiliations can be fleeting and there is nothing to encourage anyone to dedicate their support to a side that might fall out of the top-flight and disappear into the netherworld of the FOOTBALL LEAGUE. in fact, where SPORTSNET (and SETANTA SPORTS before them) used to carry at least one CHAMPIONSHIP game a week, this year, they wanted to save a little on the licencing budget (i would imagine) and opted for a weekly SPL game instead.


this was the first time in years - at least going back to the 2006-07 season - that the FOOTBALL LEAGUE (including the play-offs) was not seen at all on television in the particular broadcast region where i live. consequently, anyone following the english game on TV will not have seen any football that is competitive at the top end of the division.

i don't know what deals they're making for next year, but it is unlikely that the view of english football in toronto will become any more expansive very soon, and the average viewer who considers themselves a "fan" won't be looking for anything more than to follow a team that wins 85-90% of its matches. i know one guy - with claims of being a casual supporter - who says he used to support arsenal, but now they are "no good" (not having won anything recently in trophy competitions is what i think he meant), so he has switched allegiance and now follows chelsea. while this is hardly traditional behaviour, it is an attitude that is more and more prevalent with the supporter who follows the game through international TV broadcasts.

in this context, it is more and more the job of teams like west brom to drop enough points in the PREMIER LEAGUE to see to it that the status-quo is maintained, and that sides like manchester united, manchester city, arsenal, chelsea and liverpool perpetually compete as an elite mini-league who occupy the top places in the table, and thus hang on to their fan bases in the international TV market.


in fact, with the virtual monopoly that the two manchester sides - together with chelsea and arsenal - have established in occupying the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE spots for the last few years, together with similar situations in LA LIGA, the BUNDESLIGA and even now LIGUE UN, the FOOTBALL LEAGUE ONE was arguably the most exciting football competition in all europe last season.

besides my visits to the hawthorns and my primary football interest being invested in the baggies, i have also followed brentford's adventures in the FOOTBALL LEAGUE over the last few years. this year, where west brom began the season as one of the form teams in the top-flight and played some very exciting football in the process, it was the bee's that supplied the majority of my best and most exciting football moments over the second half of the season.

from the final and decisive day in the CHAMPIONSHIP, where hull city drew with division champions cardiff and won automatic promotion to the top-flight; or the final kick of the match at griffin park that propelled doncaster rovers up and out of LEAGUE ONE; through to the play-offs in LEAGUE TWO, league football provides a truly competitive environment that has long since disappeared from the top-flight.


it's really a shame that there was no TV coverage of the FOOTBALL LEAGUE this year. the drama off the final day and play-offs contrasted starkly with the narrow vision of english football as a competitive spectacle that the international supporter is afforded through following the almighty, bloody PREMIER LEAGUE on television, with its heavily biased focus on a handful of elite sides. the competition and excitement that still exists in league football serves to remind those of us who can remember what top-flight football used to be like before 1992.

i visit england twice a year for two weeks at a time and try to get out and watch as much football as i can. all i can say is that i would not be attending PREMIER LEAGUE matches at all if west bromwich albion, the team that i support, were not playing in the top-flight.

Abroad Again Back Home

WBA 2-2 Aston Villa F.C.

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i have been on vacation... again.

since my 50th birthday, when i returned to england after an absence of 34 years, i have been going back to visit twice a year. with my mother having initially gone back in 1986 - and then making a second permanent return in 1989 - england is now the family home. this offers me a great excuse to get to the hawthorns a couple of times a year, and i am also afforded the opportunity to visit other grounds and watch other teams. on my last visit, for example, i went to meadow lane for the first time and watched notts county play bury on the friday night before sunderland came to the hawthorns... yet another adventure in my ever growing number of overnight tours of midlands' football stadia.

on tuesdays - and when i am in london - i go watch brentford at griffin park.

one of the sad ironies of my trips these days, is that with the baggies playing in the almighty, bloody PREMIER LEAGUE, i now only see them live twice a year. whereas, i went to six fixtures - and could have made it seven if i'd been able to get my ass up to middlesbrough on a sunday afternoon - the year they won promotion. also, much to my dismay, i can't get tickets to away matches anymore. evidently, top-flight football has its price. for two years running, i've seen brentford more times than i've been to watch the baggies; and last year, i went to both griffin park and the county ground at swindon more times than i was able to get to the hawthorns.

Everton F.C. 2-1 WBA

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i actually started this trip with the chelsea v brentford 4th round FA CUP replay at stamford bridge. this was the most oppressive atmosphere that i have yet encountered when attending football in england since the 1970s.

perhaps i am underestimating the fact that it was a local derby and the heightened security was warranted, but the general attitude of the stewards was excessive. for example, access to the club shop was physically blocked to away supporters and one particular steward outside the stadium took, what i felt, was an inappropriate interest in my activities as i photographed the brentford supporters coming down the brick-wall enclosed lane-way leading to the famous "shed end" of stamford bridge.

it appears that chelsea football club provides part-time employment for every dance-club bouncer and neighbourhood tough-guy in the west end of london.

while the bee's acquitted themselves well in the first-half, thanks to the goalkeeping of simon moore, it was all the LEAGUE ONE side had in them. after a decent crack at goal by adam foreshaw went just wide, and a poor decision by the referee saw marcello trotta's goal pulled back, the score remained 0-0 through half-time. however, the first chelsea goal came within minutes of the restart and that was the signal for the flood gates to open. the home side ran out easy winners by a score of 4-0.

it didn't matter and was surely something that we all knew was possible - and even likely - but by virtue of the fact that brentford took six thousand travelling supporters to stamford bridge, it was a significant event. i had been to a home fixture in the league last year that drew less than four thousand. of course, that match was on TV, so smaller than usual numbers at the gate would be expected.

WBA 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

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my next trip was to cardiff on a tuesday night. ironically, i had been there before and felt no connection to cardiff city football club whatsoever and had not anticipated returning. however, that particular experience had been soured before the fact that i had gone to cardiff because i hadn't been able to get tickets to watch the baggies away to the villa, and i simply wasn't going to spend a saturday afternoon in england (or wales, for that matter) without going to the football. it was one of my first great experiences of disillusionment with life in the PREMIER LEAGUE. on this visit, however, i did the right thing and bought my ticket from brighton and hove albion and went as an away supporter.

i stayed at a charming old hotel around the corner from the train station, and travelled out the stadium on a local service that cost £1.80 return.

after my experience at chelsea, the atmosphere here was much more laid back. it was nice to see that the stewards were actually supporters themselves, and were engaged in the match rather than looking for beach-balls to deflate and half hoping for trouble to kick-off. with the visiting team playing a brilliant rear-guard action, and sealing the victory with a late goal on the counter-attack, it was a really enjoyable way to spend a tuesday evening.

Liverpool F.C. 0-2 WBA

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after a couple of days back home with me mum, it was time for the highlight of the trip: an overnight excursion to watch football in the midlands.

i had done this a few times before. that is, i had made the journey leaving the day before and taking in an extra match on the eve of going to the hawthorns. it is a tradition that began out of necessity when west brom's PREMIER LEAGUE fixtures with wolves were played on the sunday with a noon kick-off, at the behest of the west midlands police. this meant that i would have to travel to birmingham a day early anyway. so what better way to pass the time than checking out other football grounds?

having been to leicester city, walsall and birmingham city on previous trips to see the albion, i now found myself spending a cold friday night in nottingham. i have always wanted to go to meadow lane, and i felt a connection there that i almost never feel when going to a new ground.

needing to use the facilities, i found a bar just inside the grounds of the stadium. truthfully, it looked more like a workingman's club or legion hall than it did a pub, and i doubt if anyone inside was younger than sixty. it was an environment that appeared timeless where life had changed little in the last thirty or forty years. as i looked around the brightly over-lit room, with its ancient, yellowing white walls, marked by the odd outdated event poster, i couldn't help but wonder if there if would be a next generation of supporters who would one day be there to take their place. in a world of SKYsports and ESPN broadcasts that show top-flight domestic and european games, it's hard to imagine football's traditional working class environments surviving past the next couple of decades.

notts county's opponents were bottom of the league strugglers, bury f.c., who had brought perhaps two or three hundred supporters down from lancashire with them. while they were certainly vocal enough for their small numbers, the jimmy sirrel stand appeared near empty, belying the fact that there was a reasonable gate (for a televised LEAGUE ONE match on a cold friday night) of nearly six-thousand.

while notts were clearly the more skilled side in possession, they lacked any luck or ability to finish, and a defensive mistake gave the visitors an early one-nil lead that they carried through half-time. this, of course, prompted some good old fashioned midlands-style moaning and groaning over a smoke in the parking lot at the break. the conversation was thick with threats of not renewing seasons tickets for next year, complaints about ticket prices, questioning the intentions of the board and their immediate ambition (or lack thereof)... all the cliché pronouncements heard regularly in pubs across the midlands.

however, with just over 12 minutes gone in the second-half, the magpies hit back with 3 goals in the space of 7 minutes and ran out 4-1 winners on the night.

WBA 2-1 Sunderland A.F.C.

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so, after a night in nottingham, i strolled down to the station and was at new street a good 2 hours ahead of kick-off.

this was my 11th trip to the hawthorns, and i am well familiar, at this point, with navigating the city centre and catching the local train from snow hill.

i have had extraordinarily good luck, as i have only seen the baggies lose once in all my trips to the hawthorns. of course, that was a christmas time fixture with blackburn rovers, when they were in the middle of their annual poor run of form, that traditionally starts in novemeber/december and carries through january/february. the only other occasion that i have been to the hawthorns that did not result in a victory was the re-scheduled fixture when carlos vela scored the equalizer in injury time to salvage a 1-1 draw with wolves and kicked off an 8 match unbeaten run under then new head coach, roy hodgson. despite my family and friends joking about my status as "good-luck talisman" for the baggies, the truth is, that i target matches that i think will be competitive and the baggies have a good chance of winning. i mean, i would just hate to travel the 3000 miles to see my team lose to the likes of manchester united or arsenal!

this was the second year in a row that i've been to the home fixture with sunderland. last year's game was without a doubt the baggies best overall performance of the year - and that includes the 5-1 win at the molineaux. this year's corresponding fixture wasn't in the same class, but the baggies were still good enough to hang on after going two-nil up (thanks to romelu lukaku) , before conceding a lone goal to the excellent stéphane sessègnon late on, for the final result of 2-1.

the big disappointment this year was my inability to get into the club shop. since the club's promotion, match day business has been picking up to such a degree that i would have needed to get there at least an hour and a half before kick off to get in a decent session of shopping for shirts and souvenirs. as it was, i had to line up for 15 minutes just to get in the door. however, i couldn't move and didn't get 15 feet past the entrance before i gave up, turned around and just got the hell out of there. it had changed so much since my first visit to the hawthorns for a match with plymouth argyle, that i thought, i'll do my shopping online and pay the shipping charges as long as it's like this, thanks!

of course, i really miss being in the same division with wolves, and i think that there is something irrational about a baggies supporter cheering the misfortunes of the dingles at the bottom of the CHAMPIONSHIP. i really miss the wolves fixtures at the hawthorns, and i hope to get a chance to travel to the molineaux for the derby one day. albion/wolves is the best rivalry in english football, and i really enjoyed the heightened intensity of these particular fixtures. i, for one, wish wolves only success until we're back in the same division.


my adventure that had begun at stamford bridge in such grand and grim fashion, ended rather modestly on a tuesday night at the broadfield stadium in crawley watching brentford away. i was staying at a hotel out near gatwick airport and crawley is only a 10 minute train ride south. i had gone out to the airport a day early in order to travel down and watch the match on tuesday, thus giving myself an extra day in london before having to leave on thursday morning.

in terms of a facility, crawley is a club that has come up into the FOOTBALL LEAGUE too quickly. they play in a quintessentially poor non-league stadium and employ an over-zealous security staff. it's not a particularly good place to watch football either. the designated seating for away supporters has the poorest sight-lines i have ever encountered at a professional ground.

there was 1500 travelling bee's fans that night, and it really felt like the staff was overwhelmed. i still haven't found out what happened, but during the break at half-time, the away supporters lounge was locked down, and the blue-coated "response" team moved in. there was much remonstrating and chanting from the travelling brentford support. i even witnessed an incident where a bee's supporter was having a verbal stand-off with one of the response team. the blue-jacketed steward then knocked a bottle of coca-cola out of his hand, which was the signal to strong-arm him out of the stadium, on the pretext that he had thrown it at them.

they wouldn't let us out into the parking lot to smoke, which i've only ever seen at much bigger clubs where the exits are more difficult to police. christ! we all still went out for a smoke during the half-time break at cardiff city stadium!

quite comically - and on the way in, a lone female steward was trying to pat down an entire crowd of travelling brentford supporters. eventually, most of us just got tired of waiting and walked around her and went through the turnstile.

brentford got their season back on track with a 2-1 win and now look dead certs for at least the play-offs this year. although, i have to say that i think in terms of actual promotion, they're probably a year or two early for anything but a struggle in the CHAMPIONSHIP. still, you've got to begin improvement and upward mobility somewhere, and uwe rösler has done a brilliant job whatever happens.

of course, i will be back to check on things all over again in october.

Too Much Too Soon?

Swansea City A.F.C. 3-1 WBA

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just as with last year's visit to the liberty stadium, the baggies conceded 3 goals and turned in what was undoubtedly their worst performance to date - and that was just the first 10 minutes!

it was a hard reminder of how difficult life in the world's top league can be and has set down a real challenge to the team's character.

to be fair, it won't seem such a bad result if they can go back to the hawthorns and get a result from the game with stoke on saturday. however - and as west bromwich albion supporters - we all know not to expect too much from a game with stoke city. this is a historically hard fixture for the baggies, with the potters being one of west brom's true bogey sides.

this was only the baggies' fourth loss of the season and only their second truly poor performance, having lost 3-0 to fulham earlier in the season. in a funny way, this loss to the swans puts the earlier loss to the cottagers into a clearer perspective and looking back on their visit to the west london should be a real lesson for steve clarke.



it has been west brom's style to defend with the back four playing in a fairly deep position. for the most part, it has worked well for them and is an essential component in the successful counter-attacking play that the baggies have employed this season. however, it has shown to be vulnerable when playing against an in form attacking side - especially when playing possession through the midfield - and the gaffer was astute in abandoning this and pushing the back four up to hold a much higher line in the second half. but by then the damage was already done.

the baggies pulled a goal back just on half-time through the effort and skills of chris brunt and romelu lukaku. brunt delivered a good ball on a corner kick in the dying seconds of the first half which fell for lukaku to smash home. it was as simple as that.

to their credit, the baggies adjusted well enough and were the better side for most of the second-half, but without the luck of the bounce and a poor performance from peter odemwingie, the goal that they needed to get back in the game never materialized.

as poor as the baggies were for the first half, swansea's crisp, quick passing game deserves some credit. to be fair, the home side came out and played with a level of skill and intensity that was as good as any football that the PREMIER LEAGUE has produced this year.

Sunderland A.F.C. 2-4 WBA

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the baggies continued their habit of breaking age-old hoodoos - as well as posting what was their second away victory of the season - by winning four games on the spin for the first time since the inception of the PREMIER LEAGUE.

sunderland is a side that is in a bit of a crisis at the moment. they are fairly sound defensively - as one would expect from a martin o'neill side - and the counter-attacking gambit that the baggie have used to great effect since the beginning of the season was never going to work at the stadium of light. but with the black cats having trouble creating scoring opportunities - and an even tougher time finding goals - this is a fixture that one would fully expect the baggies to go looking for full-points from.



while zoltan gera initially put the albion in front just on the half-hour mark, it was shane long's persistence that gave them real control of this encounter. chasing down a ball that most players would've given up on, the irish striker took full advantage when simon mignolet was unable to control chris brunt's through ball that should've been no more than routine cover. but long followed up, challenged the belgian goalie and walked the ball into the sunderland net for the goal from which martin o'neill's side would never really recover.

romelu lukaku scored the third baggies' goal from the penalty spot after liam ridgewell was fouled in the box.

while sunderland did get back into the game with a late goal that put the scoreline at 3-2, their push forward to find the equalizer left them open at the back and marc antoine fortuné made no mistake when the opportunity to restore the two goal lead that west brom had held for long parts of the match opened up for him on another baggies' counter attack. with only simon mignolet to beat, the french striker deftly curled the ball in at the far post to give the score-line its proper gloss. it was no more than west brom deserved.

WBA 2-1 Chelsea F.C.

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this was a fixture that you might have written off at the beginning of the season, but with the start that the albion have made in the league this year, they should be starting to believe that there's no such thing as "writing off" a game. i would never pretend that the baggies were the superior team on the day, or that there weren't periods - especially in the second-half - where chelsea weren't the better side and having the better of the play; but steve clarke is proving to be a masterful tactician, showing that he knows how and when to use his resources to best effect.

it's no secret that roy hodgson organized the baggies to be a very good defensive side. steve clarke has built on that foundation that has seen a more complete vision of football being played at the hawthorns, and tactics to deal with anything that the PREMIER LEAGUE can throw up. the baggies have now won this fixture two years running and deservedly so.

shane long put the baggies ahead just before the 10 minute mark, when james morrison played a perfect cross for the irish striker to head home in the 9th minute of the game. eden hazard equalized from a similar play just a little over 5 minutes before half-time on a ball played across the albion goal by cesar azpilicueta.


fernando torres was withdrawn before half-time, having looked listless and been largely ineffectual. especially when compared to the highly effective, hard-working and skilled play of shane long. daniel sturridge replaced torres and the chelsea attack improved a great deal. however, both the chelsea striker and winger, victor moses had crucial efforts thwarted by an in form boaz myhill, whose sharp shot-stopping has eased the problem of having ben foster out injured. a second late strike by sturridge flashed dramatically across the face of goal but went wide as the baggies held on for the win.

A Trio of Victories!!!

WBA 1-0 Chelsea F.C.

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i left for england on the evening of february the 12th. the baggies had demolished wolves at the molineux (1-5) earlier in the day and i knew that this would go a long way towards banishing the ugly atmosphere that has been present at the hawthorns since the baggies' home loss to wigan on the 10th of december.

barring a series of unlikely disasters there will indeed be an unprecedented third consecutive season of PREMIER LEAGUE football at the hawthorns. of course, this brings up concerns over next year's goals and expectations; but for the moment, i'm just going to enjoy the glory and be grateful for the fact that my last visit of the season was a 4-0 victory over sunderland and the first home win since november 19th.

it has taken a decade to achieve, but i hope that chairman, jeremy peace, feels at least some vindication for his oft-criticized financial practices at the club. mr. peace has always understood that the organization needs to be balanced, and that incremental improvements over a long period of time are the only way that a club of the size and resource of west bromwich albion is going to get anywhere in terms of establishing itself as a top-flight side. i will countenance no more supporter criticism as to the chairman's perceived lack of ambition - it's simply not true.





personally, i think jeremy peace is a brilliant chairman, and one of the few people who's figured out a way to find long term success within the top 25 teams in the country. that is, when the baggies have been relegated, the set-up has been in place to keep most of the important players at the club and ensures that they can challenge for promotion. likewise, each time the albion have gone into a new season in the top-flight, it has always been an improved side on the previous campaign. i guarantee that jeremy peace has the greatest of ambitions for west bromwich albion football club. but in a culture where expectations have to be met instantly, the qualities of patience, prudence, careful management and intelligence are more vice than virtue.

jeremy peace talks to BBC Late Kick-Off (March 2010)

WBA 4-0 Sunderland A.F.C.

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in yet another season of exorcizing ghosts of top-flight fixtures past, the baggies have won three games on the spin for what is only the second time as a PREMIER LEAGUE side. more importantly, they beat chelsea - one of the biggest teams in the country - for the first time in 32 years.

the most significant thing about the baggies current string of results is that they've done it largely without chris brunt and shane long - perhaps their two best players.

however, peter odemwingie has found goal-scoring form where most pundits believed he wouldn't. marc-antoine fortune is unrecognisable to the player who was originally brought in as an emergency loan replacement for ishmael miller and ended up at celtic for the 2010-11 season before returning to the hawthorns. the french striker had recently spent some time on loan at doncaster rovers and has returned to B71 looking the very model of the modern centre-forward - a player transformed.





after a shaky start to the seaon, james morrison has been brilliant in his role as attacking mid-fielder; and last minute january signing, keith andrews, has been a revelation partnering youssouf mulumbu in the holding mid-field position and has scored goals against both wolves and sunderland.

the baggies have also looked good defensively as of late. two clean sheets back-to-back and 225 minutes of football (and counting) without having conceded a goal. the centre-halves have been outstanding. jonas olsson and gareth mcauley might be the best pair of defenders to ever play in a west brom jersey. certainly they are the best centre-halves since the days of john wile and alistair robertson, and both have added important goals to their heroic shot blocking and fearless tackling. ben foster hasn't seemed like he's actually had a lot to do in these few games, but has come up big when needed and his quick distribution of the ball has led directly to scoring opportunities and goals.

Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. 1-5 WBA

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black country derbies are always a bit of a drag for me. if i'm here in toronto, i am required to get up a 6 AM to catch what is usually a noon kick-off on the sunday; and if i'm in england, i have to travel to birmingham on the day before and take a hotel room for the night. last year i went to st. andrews to watch blues play sheffield wedneday in an FA CUP replay as a way of killing time on the eve of the big match; and this last october i went to watch walsall play preston in the league.

as i was travelling to england that night, waking up at 6 AM was less of a chore than usual and worth the effort ten times over.

this was quite an unbelievable game of football and one that the baggies really needed to win in order to change the mood at the hawthorns. it may have been the most important match of the current campaign; we will only know once the season is over. but just as wolves used their home victory over west brom last year as a spring-board to their successful run for survival, the baggies used this away win as a way to go back to the hawthorns with momentum and confidence and get the home support behind them as they begin the push for a mid-table finish.





it was also important to bring the home faithful onside and get them behind the manager. roy hodgson has been coming under a certain amount of attack in various online forums since the baggies loss to wigan kicked off a string of poor results at home. there has been criticism of everything from his age to his "negative" footballing tactics. these same tactics have come to be an important part of the baggies current form and the gaffer now looks like a footballing genius. his sometimes rigid defensive formations have become integral to how the baggies play - and will need to keep playing, in order to finish with the kind of season we had all hoped for (and perhaps expected) since the outset of the campaign.

Chelsea F.C. 2-1 WBA

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this is the kind of match that makes me want to declare and testify to the worst and most egregious of blasphemies: sometimes, i hate the premier league and wish that...

don't get me wrong. i mean, i was perfectly thrilled when we beat arsenal at the emirates. i jumped out of my seat singing psalm 23 at the top of my lungs when simon cox equalized at white-hart lane, putting the baggies on 40 points and all but beyond any fears of relegation.

i travelled three-thousand miles and was witness to the most important goal of the season at the hawthorns, when carlos vela equalized in injury time against wolves to set the albion on an eight game unbeaten run that ultimately lead to their survival, and a respectable mid-table finish in the all mighty, bloody barclay's premier league.

for the baggies this was the best league finish in nearly 30 years and certainly gives us a reason to start dreaming a little of european nights returning to the hawthorns with all the glamour and glory that that entails.

not to mention, i get to see my beloved baggies every week on TV - if not live, then at least in repeat at sometime over the course of the following week.

however, the financial gap at the top of the league is just too much of a weight to bear in order to be competitive, and the re-structuring of a successful team in the football league to one that can survive for more than five years in the premiership is often an out and out gamble - sometimes with the very existence of the club.





this was the second week in a row that the albion have had to play champions league opposition, the second week in a row that they have lost a close game late on by a score of 2-1, and the second week in a row where they did not get some calls from the referee that they really should have... frustrating stuff. especially when you consider that the margin of skill between a team like west bromwich albion and the big clubs is marginal, while the cost of maintaining that margin is so exorbitant as to be preposterous. fernando torres cost more than 3 times as much as the entire albion starting eleven. that's 20 times what peter odemwingie cost the baggies when he signed initially.

will a modest or large community based club ever win the league again? never in your life. in the mid-1970s, clubs like derby county, norwich city, west brom, nottingham forest and QPR were all variously competitive top 5 clubs, and english football still produced surprises and miracles. nowadays, the premier league has pretty much outlawed miracles. it's just not good business.





last week was a disappointment at home, this week it was away.

the baggies took the lead against chelsea in the 4th minute on shane long's second goal in as many games, and while chelsea had the bulk of possession, it was the albion who were dictating the pace of the game and making good use of the break. long worked tirelessly up front, along with colourful striker, somen tchoyi, and the baggies could well have been another goal ahead at the break.

roy hodgson went with the same starting eleven, and the same tactical set-up as he had played against manchester united at the hawthorns. the gaffer seems very much committed to a two striker system - and it looks that he intends to use this system both home and away.

while the home side had the better of the possession - and especially for large chunks of the second half - the baggies were the better and more organized side throughout the first 45-minutes.

chris brunt has adapted to hodgson's style of football, and is no longer distracted by having taken the captaincy. with two defensive midfielders, in the pairing of paul scharner and youssouf mulumbu - and with brunt and james morrison covering the wings - the gaffer has instituted a form of 4-4-2 that is able to maintain a good defensive shape and compete successfully with teams playing 4-5-1, who would tend to have the advantage in midfield.





the baggies were creating all the early chances and it was brunt moving into a central attacking position that was making it happen. paul scharner got on the end of a brilliant through ball from brunt, forcing chelsea goalie, hilario, into making a sharp save at the near post. brunt then played in a ball that put shane long and somen tchoyi in behind the chelsea back four, and it would have been 2-0 save for long's poor final ball.

while they won't have been the first team to come to stamford bridge and spend long periods of defending in the second-half, the baggies were unlucky - just as they had been against manchester united - not to have hung on for the point. they did create several opportunities to equalize, as well, the best chance falling to peter odemwingie. however, his well struck volley on a ball played to the far post was solidly dealt with by hilario.

while there were questions to be asked about the two chelsea goals as far as the baggies defenders were concerned, these were isolated passages of football in what was otherwise a really good defensive performance overall.

early on after the restart, nickey shorey got caught out and and lost the ball to ramires inside the baggies half. carrying the play into the west brom penalty area, and with the baggies defenders now on the back foot, the brazilian midfielder played a ball which eventually fell for nicolas anelka, who squeezed in an effort at the far post after taking an unfortunate deflection off jonas olsson and leaving ben foster no chance to make the save.

the winning goal came late on and just when it looked as though the baggies had weathered the worst of it and ridden out a full-on chelsea onslaught for a solid fifteen-twenty minutes, and were looking good to hang on for the draw.

however, a momentary lapse and some indecisive defending allowed jose bosingwa to carry the ball into a dangerous area down the right flank and put a low, hard cross in to the box. florent malouda met the ball at the far post to knock it home and put the blues in the lead for the first time in the match.





peter odemwingie, last year's top-scorer at the hawthorns, came on with 15 minutes left in the game. the nigerian striker not only came close to scoring, but also had a shout for what looked a stonewall penalty, when he was flagrantly hauled over in front of the londoners' goal with just seconds of injury time left to play.

the baggies have now put in two quality performances against champions league opposition, and deserve better than to be left with no points. however, a rough start like this might be the tonic needed to inspire more competitive performances against their mid-table contemporaries. last season, the baggies beat arsenal at the emirates, liverpool at home and were the only team in the league to take any points from old trafford. however, they lost twice to blackburn rovers, and were unable to take more than a single point each from bolton, wigan, stoke and wolves. while sets of home and away draws was all they could manage against the likes of west ham and tottenham.

while there is little doubt that striker, shane long, and goalie, ben foster, have brought added quality to the team, the pundits will be forgiving of the baggies this year in the name of "second-season-syndrome". however, they have managed to keep the core squad together once again and there has been much to take heart from in these two opening performances. the albion faithful, no doubt, will be hoping for a little bit more than just survival in the top-flight.

as these first two matches have been good performances with poor results, it's essential that the baggies shrug it off and get at least a point next week against stoke city. the premier league can be an unforgiving environment. there are no easy games and it's all too quick and easy to fall into a rut, not get results and just get stuck. at this point, the quicker the baggies get their first point (or points), the better.

Almost Home

Tottenham Hotspur F.C. 2-2 WBA

live text replay


it wasn't until a few days after the win at sunderland that i realized i could probably stop worrying.

the baggies were now on 39 points, were 11th in the table and nothing short of complete collapse would see them struggling in terms of PREMIER LEAGUE survival. there will almost certainly be top-flight football (and more £40-plus ticket prices) again at the hawthorns next season.



with the possibility of roy hodgson's appointment becoming long-term - and with an eye towards development of the club as a "consolidated" PREMIER LEAGUE commodity - we could be at the outset of a really good time at the hawthorns.

however, it's not the 1970's and top-three finishes for the baggies are an occasion long since disappeared from the realms of possibility; but, i can see, for example, maybe a successful run in one of the domestic cup competitions and/or qualifying for the EUROPA LEAGUE. who knows?

any kind of top-ten finish next season will be considered nothing short of genius management and a brilliant, shining success. right now, however, the goal will be the same as it was this year: 17th in league table or better. from a practical point of view, anything more would be highly speculative and probably unrealistic.

the hallmark of this year's albion team has been their ability to always be competitive. that is, they always played well against the top clubs and were usually able to raise their game to meet the occasion. the rather sensational arrival of peter odemwingie aside, this quality would still have its roots in the kind of side that tony mowbray was about developing, and which roberto di matteo took one step further. in fact, hodgson's genius has been to take the work and vision of the previous two gaffers and galvanize their styles and practices into a winning proposition.



and so it was at white hart lane. the baggies went head-to-head with one of the most exciting attacking teams in the PREMIER LEAGUE and came away with a thoroughly deserved point thanks to simon cox' first goal in the top-flight.

having come on as a late substition - and with the baggies chasing the game - the young striker took his opportunity as the ball fell for him at the top of the box. cox curled an unstoppable shot past a stretching heurelho gomes and into the top corner of the tottenham net for a cracking goal of the first order.

WBA 1-3 Chelsea F.C.

live text replay


what more realistic manner for the baggies' - and new gaffer, roy hodgson's - unbeaten run to come to an end than with a loss in the face of what was really a technically superior performance by the current league champions? i don't think anyone would have too many complaints or grumbles about the outcome of this one.

there was however, several minutes following peter odemwingie's 12th goal of the season - and setting a new individual club goal scoring record for a west brom team in the post-PREMIER LEAGUE era - where it looked like the baggies were going to do it again.

while chelsea gave their opposition precious little possession in the first quarter-of-an-hour, the albion went 1-0 up in the 17th minute. on what was virtually the first move forward for the baggies, the blues were caught with the backline playing too high. james morrison took advantage and put a short ball down the centre for thomas who pushed the ball on for odemingie to chip the chelsea keeper, pedr cech. there was the familiar faint wiff of another unlikely victory over one of the best teams in europe in the air.



but it was all rather short-lived as didier drogba levelled the score just minutes later. salomon kalou, and eventually frank lampard, made sure there would be no fanciful heroics from the baggies this week. chelsea were by far the batter team in all categories and the baggies never really got a foot-hold in the game.

in light of the albion's recent form this was somewhat sobering and out of character with the performances that the baggies have put in against top 5 sides this season. in fact, manchester city was the only other side in the current top 7 that the baggies have taken no points from this season in the league. they did, however, manage to knock the sky blues out of the LEAGUE CUP in the 2nd round.

as the season winds down and the baggies look more and more like they will be facing the "second season syndrome" of the PREMIER LEAGUE as their next crucial long-term test, there is little to criticize and much to be admired about our club at the moment.

Chelsea 6-0 WBA

match text commentary


welcome back to the premier league!

there was one or two basic mistakes that roberto di matteo has made to begin west bromwich albion's fifth venture into the top football competition in the world.

first and foremost, chris brunt is hopelessly out of place as a holding mid-fielder. it's easy to see what the gaffer is thinking in wanting both a left-sided and right-sided player in the newly introduced 4-5-1 formation that we had all anticipated. but in partnership with youssouff mulumbu, the northern ireland international is playing too deep to get properly involved in the attacking game, as well as now being isolated from the wide positions where he is most effective. towards the end of the match, there was evidence that he might eventually be able adapt his attacking game working from a central position, but he surely isn't the tackler that being a defensive midfielder requires. i think it would have been better to play him on a more natural wing position with perhaps steven reid playing next to mulumbu.

without trying to draw any direct comparisons, it reminds me of the old story concerning don howe trying to transform tony brown into a more "complete" player by improving his defensive game...



i can't understand why it isn't more obvious to everyone that brunt is every bit as important to the albion attack as graham dorrans - and as such has to be played in more advanced positions. personally, i think he is being mistakenly forced into taking up what would otherwise have been jonathan greening's old duties. while this shows the gaffer's respect for his technical abilities, i think it ignores his natural intsticts as well as his real talents.

another problem is that the new attacking formation forces graham dorrans into too high a position where he is forced to attack the goal directly instead of creating opportunities. again, this an unfamiliar role for the young scottish international and he looked pretty lost and needs to be sitting in a deeper position - and with plenty of space in front of him - from which to control the game. while he delivered a decent direct free-kick in the second-half, just missing the top right-hand corner of the chelsea goal, he was otherwise surprisingly quiet and ineffective. again, i think that di matteo - along with a number of the club's supporters - has missed how important brunt is to the baggies' attacking game; and how desperately dorrans needs him when going forward.

the other main problem seemed to be the absence of jonas olsson - something i would not have anticipated. the tamas/ibanez partnership was ok for the first 40 minutes, but not as good as the tamas/olsson pairing we saw at the end of last season. of course, i think much of this has to with olsson's natural aggressiveness which is sometimes as much of a hindrance as an advantage; and the swedish centre half has always needed to learn to control his verbal confrontations with match officials. however, his aggressive spirit and volatile temperament were sorely missed today.



marek cech was the only defensive player to show any real spark; and james morrison was surprisingly unimpressive on the right-wing. i would suggest that di matteo give the newly arrived nicky shorey a go at left-back and use marek cech as the left-footed holding mid-fielder. above all, he's got to put brunt back on the wing and push dorrans further back.

scott carson should have done a better job in handling the free-kick that led to the first goal, as he palmed it straight back down into his own 6 yard-box inviting the chelsea attackers forward and allowing malouda to pounce on an easy goal.

this early defensive lapse aside, the baggies had every reason to take heart in their first-half performance; as, without really having anything gel going forward, the baggies kept the game tight after conceding in the 6th minute. they looked like they might be able to take a point from this game right up until injury time when a second goal from a chelsea free-kick put the game out of reach and beyond them in a way they could never have imagined up until that point.

the second goal was completely preventable, and it was chris brunt and gabriel tamas' inability to hold their position in the wall that created the gap for didier drogba to put the game at 2-0 - and beyond the capability of the baggies - just on the stroke of half-time. the complexion of the game turned completely at this point, and if the baggies had been able to get to the half only one-goal down, they certainly would have been able to consider the possibility of taking something by way of points from this match.

after half-time and once the third goal went in, it was hard for captain scott carson to rally the troops. while they were still in with a shout to keep the scoreline respectable, the spirit was gone and you could see that they just wanted to get out of this one and concentrate on their home opener against sunderland next week.

the last three chelsea goals were scored by a team that was really playing exhibition football by this point, showing the albion in very plain terms some of the worst of what this league has in store for them.





if there was anything positive to be taken from this game it was the performance of jerome thomas on the left-wing, who picked his game up right where he left off, with his pace always posing a threat. he was the only albion player who was consistently getting forward and able to advance the ball with several really good individual runs. simon cox, who came on as a substitute alongside ishmael miller, looked good in getting in a shot on the chelsea goal, showing hints that he might have something special about him at any level of football, and marek cech is a solid and well rounded technical player.

i was less upset with the baggies' performance today than i was with di matteo's team selection, which i see as the real culprit in west brom's opening day humiliation. the big complaint and main talking point prior to the start of the season - and even reaching as far as di matteo himself - has been the baggies' need for a quality striker. well i for one have had enough and don't want to hear another word until the gaffer gets his tactics and positions with the current squad straight!